Penn’s AppItUP Challenge Will Culminate With Launch of Five New Companies

WHO:Anthony H. Williams Pennsylvania State Senator

Karina Sotnik Program Director, AppItUP

Ten Finalists

Development and Venture Capital Partners

WHAT: AppItUP Fall Challenge Event

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 22, 4-7:30 p.m.

WHERE: 2401 Walnut St., 8th floor, Philadelphia, Pa.

UPstart, the business incubator at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Technology Transfer, is running a mobile application development contest known as the AppItUP Challenge. Each year, students, faculty and staff are encourage to submit their ideas for apps, which are then judged by a panel of venture capital partners. The top ten ideas then go on to a public event, where development partners bid for the opportunity to turn the ideas into functional prototypes. This year's AppItUP Challenge yielded 185 ideas across 11 of Penn's 12 schools. The finalists represent The Perelman School of Medicine, the Wharton School, the School of Nursing and the School of Design.

After opening remarks from State Senator Anthony H. Williams and AppItUP program director Karina Sotnik, the ten finalists will present their app ideas and answer questions from the partners. At the end of the event, the development partners will each pick a single company for which they propose develop a prototype. If more than one partner picks the same idea, that finalist will have chance to ask questions and pick the partner he or she prefers.

The event will also feature Wharton MBA students and other entrepreneurs, who will pitch themselves as potential CEOs for these potential start-up companies. Anyone in attendance can bid to partner with a winning company as an entrepreneur or in some other capacity.